{"id":9368,"date":"2021-04-28T12:42:40","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T12:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=4542463"},"modified":"2021-04-28T12:42:40","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T12:42:40","slug":"colorado-reckons-with-high-potency-marijuana-and-its-impact-on-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/colorado-reckons-with-high-potency-marijuana-and-its-impact-on-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado reckons with high-potency marijuana and its impact on children"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/colorado-reckons-with-high-potency-marijuana-and-its-impact-on-children\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2021\/04\/28\/cannabis-marijuana-thc-potency-colorado-legislature\/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dp-news-marijuana+%28Denver+Post%3A+News%3A+Marijuana%29&amp;utm_content=Google+UK#comments-anchor\"><span class=\"spot-im-replies-count\" data-post-id=\"4542463\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lafonna Pacheco hardly recognized her daughter, Roxanne Delte, by the time she turned 17.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t just a teenager thing,\u201d Pacheco said. \u201cIt was beyond that. She was paranoid, she was oppositional. Something mentally was going on and it was scary because I couldn\u2019t put my finger on it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After five stints in rehab, Delte is able to say clearly what was going on: She was consuming too much high-potency cannabis \u2014 flower, yes, but also concentrated wax and other products, too \u2014 and that was ruining her life. She recalls regularly puking, and how uncomfortably high she would get from the wax in particular.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI lost glimpses of time,\u201d said Delte, who has not used cannabis for a year. \u201cIt completely changed my mental state and my routine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHer friends thought she was smoking something else,\u201d added Pacheco, who lives in Colorado Springs. \u201cShe wasn\u2019t on crack, not on meth. The way these marijuana products affected her in her mind and her actions was complete psychosis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Such extreme cases are showing up more among Colorado youth, parents and school health professionals say. And people like Pacheco are increasingly pleading with lawmakers to cut off teens\u2019 easy access to cannabis products, as well as asking for more regulation of products like edibles, wax and shatter that contain THC levels that can be dangerous for developing brains.<\/p>\n<p>Their champion in the Colorado Legislature is Rep. Yadira Caraveo, a pediatrician who has for months been negotiating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2021\/03\/11\/colorado-biggest-overhaul-marijuana-laws-thc-cap\/\">legislation to limit THC potency<\/a>. She\u2019s unlikely to succeed in installing any THC caps this year, but said she\u2019s \u201cpretty certain\u201d she\u2019ll introduce a bill with other provisions to more strictly regulate cannabis sales for medical and recreational buyers, with a focus on limiting youth access.<\/p>\n<p>Growing evidence shows high-potency THC products are more likely to bring on or worsen mental health issues in young people. <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1TCfvteJYcsxJM3GalM1aXxUA7tCLcC6-8MhFlNsEspc\/edit\">The state\u2019s own reporting says so<\/a>, and a <a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamapediatrics\/article-abstract\/2775255\">broader study of 204,000 people<\/a> ages 10-24 released in January in the Journal of the American Medical Association\u2019s pediatrics publication found elevated risk of self-harm among young people who misused cannabis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe found SUBSTANTIAL evidence that THC intoxication can cause acute psychotic symptoms, which are worse with higher doses,\u201d the 2020 report from Colorado\u2019s health department said.<\/p>\n<p>But the overall body of research on this topic is limited, and the state\u2019s report also recommended further studies on THC\u2019s effects on kids.<\/p>\n<h3>Concentrate use on the rise<\/h3>\n<p>The Denver Post spoke with a half-dozen mothers around the state whose stories had striking common denominators: severe and initially unexplainable symptoms; a child\u2019s gradual loss of self; a parent\u2019s shame and confusion over what was happening; and, eventually, a realization of how many other families were going through the same situations.<\/p>\n<p>Robin Noble of Boulder recalls a time when her son, then 15, was sent home from school for getting high. She went to pick him up, and one of her son\u2019s coaches told her not to go hard on the boy, saying \u201cit\u2019s just pot.\u201d Soon, her son was having multi-day episodes, marked by what Noble called \u201cprojectile vomiting and then when there\u2019s nothing left \u2026 screaming, retching, crying.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>\u201cI felt like such a sucker, when I finally really woke up to this problem,\u201d added Noble, who now serves on her city\u2019s cannabis advisory board and is a legislative aide to Democratic state Rep. Judy Amabile of Boulder. Nobel said she did not support legalization in 2012 but that her interest now is in preventing youth access, not \u201cgoing backwards\u201d by broadly limiting the industry.<\/p>\n<p>There are rules in place already to keep cannabis from kids: All marijuana products in Colorado have strict packaging requirements, including labels that mention health risks. Business owners must also scan identification cards for customers to ensure they are of age, and dispensaries are subject to random regulatory audits.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4484137\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter size-article_inline\"><img class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/colorado-reckons-with-high-potency-marijuana-and-its-impact-on-children.jpg\" alt=\"1g of marijuana concentrates are weighed ...\" width=\"5568\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/colorado-reckons-with-high-potency-marijuana-and-its-impact-on-children.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/colorado-reckons-with-high-potency-marijuana-and-its-impact-on-children.jpg 620w,https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/TDP-L-concentrates031021-cha-179.jpg?fit=780%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 780w,https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/TDP-L-concentrates031021-cha-179.jpg?fit=810%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 810w,https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/TDP-L-concentrates031021-cha-179.jpg?fit=1280%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1280w,https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/TDP-L-concentrates031021-cha-179.jpg?fit=1860%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1860w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n<p>Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post<\/p>\n<p>One gram of marijuana concentrate is weighed before packaging at Viola in Denver on Wednesday, March 10, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Latest data from the state\u2019s biannual and comprehensive <a href=\"https:\/\/marijuanahealthinfo.colorado.gov\/health-data\/healthy-kids-colorado-survey-hkcs-data\">Healthy Kids Colorado Survey<\/a> show overall cannabis use among Colorado\u2019s kids has been mostly flat for years. Among children who reported having consumed cannabis in the past 30 days, 52% said they had dabbed \u2014 vaporized a high-THC cannabis concentrate \u2014 up from 20% just four years ago. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colorado.gov\/pacific\/sites\/default\/files\/2019%20Regulated%20Marijuana%20Market%20Update%20Report%20Final.pdf\">Statewide trends for all cannabis users<\/a> also show increasing popularity of concentrates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUse and misuse has not only become increased at an alarming rate \u2014 we\u2019re seeing it in younger and younger populations,\u201d said Haley Houtchens, legislative co-chair for the Colorado Association of School Nurses.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s nothing new about kids using cannabis, or about the personality changes that happen to some teens who do. But cannabis concentrates are much stronger than smokable flower, and vape pens are easy for students to hide and consume discreetly, which Houtchens believes is partially to blame for the trends.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are worried,\u201d said Houtchens, who works as a nurse in five Brighton schools. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not a punishment thing. There\u2019s just this perception that because it\u2019s legal it\u2019s OK, it\u2019s safe. For the growing, frontal lobe brain, it\u2019s just not OK.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Caraveo, the lone medical doctor in Colorado\u2019s statehouse, has similar observations from her private practice in pediatrics. She said it\u2019s what motivated her to propose a hard cap on THC content \u2014 and that she has the backing of both the Boulder-based group Blue Rising and the national group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which has historical ties to anti-legalization efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Caraveo doesn\u2019t oppose legal marijuana and neither does Blue Rising\u2019s co-founder, Dawn Reinfeld. Their alliance with Smart Approaches to Marijuana, however, has angered people in the industry. To that, Reinfeld said it\u2019s not a fight to have at the moment, adding,\u00a0\u201cI know that legalization is here to stay and I don\u2019t have an issue with that.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Legislating marijuana is tricky<\/h3>\n<p>The centerpiece of the initial version of Caraveo\u2019s bill \u2014 a THC cap that she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2021\/02\/04\/colorado-marijuana-thc-cap-bill-cannabis\/\">first tried to set at 15%<\/a> for all products \u2014 was never politically viable, as it would have wiped out huge swaths of the state\u2019s cannabis industry. Fifteen percent THC or higher is common not only in concentrates (which can be as high as above 90%) but also traditional flower.<\/p>\n<p>Lawmakers support the cannabis industry in part because they are increasingly convinced of its vast medical benefits, in addition to things like job creation and revenue. The state this year <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2021\/03\/11\/colorado-10-billion-marijuana-sales\/\">passed $10 billion in sales<\/a> since 2014.<\/p>\n<p>This is true on both sides of the aisle, as demonstrated this year through several bills.<\/p>\n<p>Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert, a Douglas County Republican, is sponsoring one bill, <a href=\"https:\/\/leg.colorado.gov\/bills\/SB21-056\">SB21-56<\/a>, to expand and streamline the use of non-smokable cannabis medicine in schools. He recently said the effort \u201chas helped people in a more significant way than anything else I\u2019ve worked on in 10 years in the legislature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s also broad concern among lawmakers about how easy it is for teens to get weed in all of its iterations \u2014 and concern about the stories they\u2019re hearing from people like Noble and Pacheco.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4542572\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter size-article_inline\"><img class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/colorado-reckons-with-high-potency-marijuana-and-its-impact-on-children-1.jpg\" width=\"8256\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/colorado-reckons-with-high-potency-marijuana-and-its-impact-on-children-1.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/colorado-reckons-with-high-potency-marijuana-and-its-impact-on-children-1.jpg 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/TDP-L-LafonnaPacheco-042321-cha-357.jpg?fit=780%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 780w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/TDP-L-LafonnaPacheco-042321-cha-357.jpg?fit=810%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 810w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/TDP-L-LafonnaPacheco-042321-cha-357.jpg?fit=1280%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1280w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/TDP-L-LafonnaPacheco-042321-cha-357.jpg?fit=1860%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 1860w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">\n<p>Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post<\/p>\n<p>Lafonna Pacheco poses for a portrait at Harmony Bowl bowling alley in Colorado Springs on Friday, April 23, 2021.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Caraveo\u2019s expected legislation will likely propose creating a new state database to enforce, for the first time, the state limits of daily dispensary purchases. Currently, medical and recreational customers can hop from one dispensary to another and buy one or two ounces of flower at a time, or dozens of grams of concentrate.<\/p>\n<p>Lawmakers may also require some patients to consult with two different doctors instead of one before obtaining medical cards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI absolutely agree, and so do the physicians who work in this space, that we could use more guardrails around the 18-to-20-year-olds using medical cannabis as a way to get access to high-THC potency products,\u201d said Rep. Edie Hooton, a Boulder Democrat who has helped pass multiple new laws expanding medical cannabis and adamantly opposes a THC cap.<\/p>\n<p>House Speaker and Denver Democrat Alec Garnett is at the center of the negotiation, and also appears to have moved on from the idea of potency caps for now<em><strong>.<\/strong><\/em> He wants to kick the matter to state health experts to study independently and return in a coming year with policy recommendations.<\/p>\n<p>There is also talk of the legislature referring a tax to the November statewide ballot that specifically targets concentrates, which could be combined with an existing ballot initiative seeking an additional 5% tax on all recreational marijuana products to fund after-school programming for low-income children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is really hard stuff,\u201d Garnett said. \u201cWe have an opportunity to do something really big. I hope that it doesn\u2019t escape us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Concerned parents hope the same.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s so uncool to talk about cannabis in a negative way and people are rightly excited about the new entrepreneurship opportunities, the revenue,\u201d Noble said. \u201cBut getting lost in this is that some people, especially young people with developing brains, can be significantly harmed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mason Tvert, who co-directed the campaign to legalize cannabis in Colorado in 2012 and is now a partner at a cannabis policy and public affairs firm in Denver, said that \u201cthe industry has been doing everything it can on the youth-use front.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And while he and Hooton both said they\u2019re glad to continue that conversation with parents \u2014 as long as potency caps aren\u2019t involved and access for cannabis patients and adult customers is protected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis always gets framed as concerned parents versus either legalization advocates or cannabis businesses, and that\u2019s not the case,\u201d Tvert said. \u201cFolks in the cannabis industry care every bit as much about the health and safety of their own children and others\u2019 children as the folks who are pushing for new restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>Growing evidence shows high-potency THC products are more likely to bring on or worsen mental health issues in young people, and some Colorado mothers want the legislature to make changes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8313,52,5104,7042,6907,6811,6892,77,6853,9,7300,5019,441,8329,6228,1,3,18,61,1736],"tags":[8314,2632,5109,7045,6909,6816,6893,2655,6854,7305,5022,3015,8330,6235,2622],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9368"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}